Integrating Computer Programming Technologies Into The Industrial Engineering Curriculum

Incorporation of powerful “scripting languages” in engineering modeling software is becoming increasingly common. Unfortunately, while most engineering curricula include one or two programming-related courses at the freshman and/or sophomore level, students generally show weak computer programming skills when they reach the core curriculum courses. This project seeks to develop an innovative set of classroom modules involving computer programming for use throughout the Industrial Engineering curriculum. The modules are in response to our belief that the main cause of the problem is not the specific material covered in the computer programming courses but the lack of reinforcement that the students receive from other engineering courses with regard to computer programming skills. This project’s goal is to investigate whether significant, formal, well-designed reinforcement of the programming skills outside of traditional programming courses will lead to students more proactively using their programming skills in situations that would benefit from their use. Five modules have been developed and tested during the first year of the project. In this presentation, we will discuss the preliminary results stemming from the use of these modules in our undergraduate courses. This project is being funded by the Division of Undergraduate Education of the National Science Foundation under Grant DUE-0836260.